Not Another Novel Blog

New Year, no fear…

Well new year is upon us once again. A time to drink and be merry, to look forward and dream and to look back and remember. All are equally important, in moderation.

I’ve set myself a few very simple resolutions this time. I seldom bother at all as if something is worth doing, or desperately needed in life; quitting smoking or going on a diet then you should do it regardless.

The first is the reason you can even read this, to simply write more. Instead of trying to write the perfect novel on the first try I’ve realised the truth that you only get good at something with practice, waiting for the right moment or the right inspiration achieves nothing but wasted time.

The second is a bit more difficult. The clue is in the title, new year no fear. I’d like to be less afraid. That’s a broad statement, I know. Fear comes in all sorts of forms from all kinds of situations. Just in the last few days, one of my personal worst fears came true whereupon I put my bare foot into my slipper and felt something touch my toes as I walked into another room. I investigated to find a house spider inside and pretty much threw my slipper across the room whilst screaming like a little girl. I could probably get over my fear of spiders if I faced it head on and forced myself to come into contact with them. The human brain is an amazing machine that can adapt and cope with all kinds of things after all. I’m just not sure I want to, I’m not scared of them as I believe they can hurt me. I find the thought of them crawling on my skin, with all those spindly legs, to be what gives me the creeps and I’m not sure if I can cure that as I did a parachute jump once and still have a lingering dread of the feeling of falling.

On a different note, mental health is a big issue these days with stress and anxiety becoming ever more prevalent in society. Its hard not to get anxious in the world we have created for ourselves where everything revolves around the pursuit of money. I suffer anxiety from time to time, by no means to the extent that some unfortunate folk do, but enough to leave me panicked about things over which I have no control and triple checking everything over which I do have control. I see myself doing it, obsessively reconfirming things to myself and even I think I’ve gone a bit mad. That’s the bit I’d like to work on, to keep telling myself to get better, not worse. If only every ones problems were so easily solved.